FHTTS SCORE OCEANO OPENING SLOT
Melbourne’s metalcore monsters, FHTTS have secured the opening slot on Oceano’s long-awaited national tour. Catch them at Bang on Saturday October 5 (18+) and at Phoenix Youth Centre on Sunday October 6 (all ages).
LIMP BIZKIT RETURN TO OZ
With over 35 million album sales, Limp Bizkit are the undisputed champions of rap-rock, and they will finally be bringing their ground shaking live show to venues around Australia this October. There are no extra shows so don’t fuck around. Tickets for Limp Bizkit go on sale from Ticketmaster on Friday 20 September at 9am. They’ll be at Festival Hall on Sunday October 27. Presented by Triple M, Channel V and Soundwave Touring.
PERPETUAL END HAVE A BLOOD COMPLEX
Apocalyptic Canberran metallers Perpetual End have released a seriously dystopian album in Blood Complex. It’s out now and available from iTunes.
SKOLNICK JOINS ESP
Here’s one for my fellow guitar nerds: Testament guitarist Alex Skolnick has just announced that he’s joined ESP Guitars, and they’ll be releasing a signature model at the NAMM Show in Anaheim, California in January 24. “Alex is a guitarist who inspires the highest level of respect among musicians around the world,” says Jeff Moore, ESP Senior Vice-President. “We are proud and excited to have him as one of ESP’s top-tier endorsees.” “My new signature guitar is the culmination of years of combined experience – mine as a player and ESP Guitars’ as one of the best-run companies out there,” says Skolnick. “I look forward to playing it for many years to come.” You’ll no doubt see this new beast in action when Testament plays the Soundwave festival in 2014.
SCAR THE SURFACE HIT THE ROAD
Melbourne’s own very slick modern metal outfit Scar The Surface will release their debut album, From The Shadows To The Fire on October 4 and they’ll be doing a major tour in support of the release. Here are the Victorian dates, although there are plenty of shows in other states too:
From The Shadows To The Fire Tour 2013
October 12th – The Tote, Melb (Album Launch)
October 24th – Next, Melb
November 1st – The Sound Bar, Werribee
November 2nd – The Newmarket Hotel, Bendigo
November 30th – DV8, Melb
December 6th – The Newmarket Hotel, Bendigo
LIVING DEATH FEST AT THE BENDIGO
Following the success of two Living Death events throughout 2012 and 2013, Kiss Or Kill presents Living Death Fest. On 21st September, seven of Australia’s heaviest bands take over the Bendigo Hotel in Collingwood for a night of absolute brutality. Headlining the night will be none other than the Queensland kings of aggression, Disentomb. In addition to their extreme slams and face melting technical riffs Disentomb will be giving their Melbourne fans a sneak peek at tracks from their upcoming release, Album II. Living Death Fest will also showcase some of Melbourne’s finest heavy acts including Internal Nightmare, The Seaford Monster, Broozer, Myridian, Involuntary Convulsion and, making their way to Melbourne for the very first time, Disentomb’s label mates Seminal Embalmment. Proudly sponsored by Kiss Or Kill, HEAVY Magazine, All Things Metal, New Standard Elite and AUDM.
RECOIL VOR RELEASE VIDEO
Sydney prog-inspired metal band Recoil VOR have received some fantastic reviews for their recently released album Sleep For The Masses, and have just released a new video for their track Breathing.
NEW DREAM THEATER THIS WEEK
Dream Theater release their new, self-titled album this week via Roadrunner. It’s their second with drummer Mike Mangini and it’s an outright monster. If you’d like to hear it, I’ll be streaming it exclusively on my blog, iheartguitarblog.com, for a week thanks to Roadrunner Records and Dream Theater. I asked guitarist John Petrucci if there were any plans for the band to tour Australia, since we missed out on the last album cycle. Here’s what he said: “Not right now but I’m hoping we will get to Australia, because we haven’t in a few years. We had a great time when we last went. It’s been a while. And not only was it great playing there but it’s such a beautiful country and I just remember all of it – the sights, the weather, everything was amazing and I would love to get back there. Hopefully we’ll get back there.”
FIRST TIME IN OZ: AMORPHIS
In October, Amorphis will tour Australia for the very first time in their illustrious career. Amorphis has been at the forefront of the scene for well over two decades. Encompassing a large and loyal fan base they have been able, and continue, to win over fans of all genres. They will be here performing tracks off their latest release Circle but will also perform classic and fan favourite Amorphis tracks across their comprehensive discography. They’ll be at Billboard The Venue on Monday October 14 with The Eternal and Datura Curse. Tickets from metalmassacre.com.au, moshtix.com.au and ticketek.com.au
OUR LAST ENEMY HIT #2
Our Last Enemy released their long awaited remix album Engineering The Enemy last week and it immediately rocketed straight into the charts debuting at #2 in the iTunes Metal and #34 in the iTunes Rock Charts.
INTRODUCING BLUES PILLS
Hey, you should totally check out the band Blues Pills. This American-Swedish-French quartet create a very unique, intense and extraordinary rock atmosphere while at the same time having a major mainstream appeal that takes you right back to the time of their musical ancestors Aretha Franklin, The Original Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Cream. They’ve been signed to a worldwide record deal with Nuclear Blast, who will release the band’s new 4-track EP Devil Man on October 18. There’s a lyric video for their song Devil Man on YouTube right now that’s really worth a high-volume blast.
